Fractal is an open source zero-margin protocol, that defines a basic standard to exchange user information, in a fair and open way, ensuring a high-quality version of the free internet.
The current Ad Market dynamics result in users’ lacking control over their data, the sedimentation of a duopolistic and therefore inefficient market and rampant levels of fraud.
User data is an essential asset in the Ad Market, and tracking users behaviour throughout the web is one of the most common methods to obtain it. Users behaviour is tracked using small text files placed on the users’ devices as they browse — commonly known as “cookies”. There are several types of cookies, but for the purposes of this paper the so-called marketing cookies are the most relevant: these cookies track users’ online.
The unconsented user data collection is an issue that needs a solution, these approaches, fail to strike a good balance between privacy protection and the need for publishers to monetize their content. Here is where Fractal plays its role.
The Protocol’s goal is to connect Advertisers and Users, through a network of participants we call Verifiers, Insurers and Attesters. Users can decide to share data with Verifiers. Verifiers makes an ad request enriched by the verified data the users provided and agreed to share. If the Verifier wins an Ad Buy, the relevant ad unit of an advertiser will be displayed to the User.